Title fights in Qatar
Open water swimmer Beck came 14th at the World Championships
Open water swimmer Leonie Beck only finished 14th at the World Championships over five kilometers. photo
© Jo Kleindl/dpa
After her unsuccessful World Cup start, Leonie Beck has improved, but it’s not enough for a top ten placement.
The 26-year-old finished in 57:56.60 minutes, 22.70 seconds slower than Sharon van Rouwendaal. The Dutchwoman was crowned double world champion in Doha after already winning over 10 kilometers. Second place went to Chelsea Gubecka from Australia, third was the Brazilian Ana Marcela Cunha. Jeannette Spiwoks took 16th place.
After a somewhat slower start, Beck went into the last 1.7 kilometers in tenth place, nine seconds behind. But since the pace was massively increased at the front, she had no chance of catching up, like Spiwoks. “It was an extremely hard race. I almost lost touch in the second lap, but was able to fight my way back. As with the ten kilometers, I had no problems with the temperatures,” reported Spiwoks.
Spiwoks had already swum over ten kilometers on Saturday to 16th place. The German Swimming Association initially assumed that this would be enough for an Olympic quota place. On Tuesday, the World Aquatics Association announced that this was not the case. Spiwoks now wants to fulfill his dream of swimming in the Seine in Paris through a long-distance qualification in the pool. “I still have a chance and I’m going to take it now,” she said combatively.
The Bavarian Beck, who lives and trains in Italy, has won five World Cup medals in her career so far. At the last World Championships in Japan, Beck even won gold twice. This time the ten-kilometer race didn’t go as planned. After 20th place in a water temperature of around 20 degrees, Beck was very cold and said: “Cold water is not my thing.”
At the Olympic Games in Paris, where the open water races take place in the Seine, the former pool swimmer is still one of the top favorites.